Page 7 of Inked Persuasion

Chapter 3

Annabelle

“That stupid, self-serving son of a bitch,” I snapped, pacing my office.

“Why don’t you tell me how you really feel?” Paige said from beside me, and I rolled on her.

“Don’t say that in your happy little voice. Be angrywithme.”

“I don’t know who you want me to be angry at,” Paige said, handing over my coffee.

“Why? Why are you handing me this?” I asked, taking it from her.

My sister shook her head. “Because you haven’t even had a sip since you walked in here, and you need more caffeine.”

“I’m shaking with rage, and you want to give me more energy?” I asked dryly.

She beamed at me. “Well, if you lose any of your caffeine intake, you’ll only get grouchier, and I’m not in a mood to handle that. So, take a sip, breathe, and tell me who I need to help you castrate.”

I blinked at her, then took a sip of my coffee. “We just went straight to castration, then?” I asked.

“If that’s what we need to do, then I will learn. Do we use scissors, a knife, or a sword? What do they use these days?” Paige asked, and I visibly shivered.

“We’re not doing that, and you went really dark quickly.”

“I’m going to blame Archer for that. We watched this medieval show with subtitles. I didn’t understand it, but there was a whole scene about it, and now I’ll never be able to sleep again.” She shuddered, and I took another gulp of my coffee, wondering where I went wrong.

“You’re scaring me. Archer always scares me, but now you’re starting to scare me, too.”

“I can’t help it. It was a double date.” She gave me a slow smile.

“I guess Marc and Colton are doing well?” I asked, wanting to know a little bit more about my siblings’ boyfriends.

“Well, I can’t speak for Archer and Marc, but Colton and I are doing well. Okay, enough about me,” Paige said, rolling her shoulders back. “Who do we hate?”

“Jacob Queen moved into the house next door.”

Paige blinked before plopping down in the chair in front of my desk. “Jacob? That Jacob?”

“Yes, that Jacob.”

“Please tell me he’s at least gotten ugly and gross and has lost all of that beautiful hair of his or something. Maybe developed smoking and now has yellow teeth?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know why that matters, but none of those. And because the gods hate me, he’s broader than before, all muscle. And I think he’s taller. Or maybe I’ve shrunk, I’m not sure. But his hair is just as thick as before, wavy at the ends. And he still has that damn jawline. It’s the same Jacob Queen. The only man in the world who hates me.”

“That was a lot of descriptions for a man you want me to help you castrate,” Paige said nonchalantly.

I narrowed my eyes at her. “First off, we’re not going to castrate Jacob Queen.”

“That’s not something I expected to hear today,” Archer said as he walked in, eyebrows raised. “I mean, I don’t know if I should help with that, considering it’d be a horrible thing, but Icould. Paige and I recently watched a movie that included it.”

“Please stop talking about castration,” I snapped.

“Okay then, it seems I’ve come at a bad time,” Benjamin said, Beckett behind him. I set my coffee down on my desk and put my hands over my face so I could silently scream into them.

“Annabelle is having a bad day, and we need her to finish that cup of coffee.”

“How many cups has she had?” Beckett asked.

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